2016 National and Transnational Dynamics of Women’s Activism in Turkey in the 1950s and 1960s: The Story of the ICW Branch in Ankara

Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele

This article attempts to analyze the transnational dimension of a forgot- ten period of women’s activism in the 1950s. In the historiography of the Turkish women’s movement, these years have been depicted as an HUDRIVWDWHIHPLQLVPZKLFKUHSODFHGWKHÀUVWZDYHIHPLQLVWPRYHPHQW represented by the Union of Turkish Women in the mid-1930s and would later be challenged by the second-wave feminism that emerged as a radical and independent movement in the 1980s. It was during the 1950s, however, that a transnational women’s network was revived since the convening of the Twelfth Congress of the International Alli- ance of Women in Istanbul in 1935. This article unearths the story of the establishment of the Turkish branch of the International Council of Women in the late 1950s and contextualizes this transnational encounter of activist women in a local and international setting, which was both heavily imbued with nationalist and Eurocentric concepts.

eminist scholars have recently argued that the international spread of FWestern-style feminism has been complicit in establishing and perpetu- ating Western global dominance, and there is now a rich body of literature on feminist Orientalism, racism, and imperialism. 1 In their critical analyses of the working of power in modern societies, radical historians have simi- larly demonstrated how European “progressive” movements were implied in (neo)colonial and (neo)imperialist projects. 2 This article builds on that scholarship, focusing on a much neglected topic and period in women’s history: the transnational and national dynamics of women’s activism in Turkey in the 1950s. We uncover the history of the postwar relationships between the (mainly European and North American) leaders of the Interna- tional Council of Women (ICW) and their potential Turkish allies, leading up to the creation of a Turkish branch of the ICW in 1960. We will show how this history was shaped by “feminist Orientalism,” a discourse that relates oppression of women and gender inequality to the (often Islamic) backwardness of the “Oriental world,” and argues the ideals of liberty and equality are supposedly inherent in the modern, Western project of Enlight- enment. As the literary critic Joyce Zonana has argued, feminist oriental-

© 2016 Journal of Women’s History, Vol. 28 No. 3, 41–65. 42 Journal of Women ’s History Fall ism is “a rhetorical strategy (and a form of thought) by which a speaker or writer neutralizes the threat inherent in feminist demands and makes them SDODWDEOHWRDQDXGLHQFHWKDWZLVKHVWRDIÀUPLWVRFFLGHQWDOVXSHULRULW\µ 3 It can also create alliances between white women activists and white men, who feel encouraged to “save brown women from brown men.” 4 Since the 1980s, a new generation of Turkish feminists has critically analyzed the way in which women’s rights were “appropriated” by Ke- malist elites ever since the founding of the republic. Their desire to break away from this “state feminism,” which prioritized the state’s role in the empowerment of women, was an important starting point for a new, more radical and independent feminist movement that marked the second wave of feminism in Turkey. 5 Feminist activists and scholars who took part in this wave were the ones who discovered that they were the granddaughters of late Ottoman and early republican feminists. They produced several VFKRODUO\ZRUNVXQYHLOLQJWKHKLVWRU\RIWKHÀUVWZDYHRI2WWRPDQ7XUN - LVKIHPLQLVPXQWLOLWVÀQDODSSURSULDWLRQE\WKH.HPDOLVWUHJLPHLQ 6 6FKRODUVIUDPHGWKHGHFDGHVRIWKHVWRWKHVEHWZHHQWKHÀUVWDQG second waves as a long period of passive state feminism. 7 Only recently have some studies shed light on women’s activism in civil society and within the socialist movement in this period. 8 This article aims to contribute to this literature, analyzing and contextualizing the transnational dimension of this “dead” period. As the historian Celia Donert has remarked, “this period, often characterized in feminist historiography as an era of female political DSDWK\¶EHWZHHQWKHZDYHV·RIÀUVWDQGVHFRQGJHQHUDWLRQIHPLQLVPZDV actually rich in transnational exchanges between women activists who made crucial contributions to the form and content of international women’s rights during the UN Decade for Women launched in 1975.” 9 The focus on transnational activism and personal encounters between activists may have other advantages as well. In its winter 2013 issue, the Journal of Women’s History published a conversation about the intersection of radical and women’s history. In this roundtable, editor Jean Quataert states, “The new turn to the global with its embrace of contingency, polycentric developments, and overlapping levels of agency is a real departure from earlier limitations.” 10 In our story, there are many actors, but nobody seems to be completely in control of the action. There is no center but rather many centers of many different yet partly overlapping worlds and developments. This approach not only makes “agency” tangible (and therefore less of an abstract category), it also helps to avoid the trap of reducing the “West” (or the “East”) to a monolithic bloc. This article reveals that in the context where women’s rights became an international issue, the contacts between the ICW and Turkish women activists were mediated and largely determined by diplomatic networks. 2016 Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele 43

These transnational encounters in turn reproduced rather than undermined Eurocentric and nationalist frameworks in which actors on both sides oper- ated. Representing the “East” was the priority for both women at ICW head- quarters and Turkish women activists. While the ICW wanted to include Turkey as a symbol of their organization’s will to extend its international network beyond the “West” and towards the Islamic and Asiatic countries, Turkish women (and men) wanted to represent Turkey as a modern nation superior to the “East.” Orientalist categories were thus incorporated into the transnational relationships of the 1950s. At the same time, transnational feminism helped cement the Orientalist foundations of the Turkish republic.

International Feminist Movements in the Ottoman/Turkish Context Ottoman and Turkish women were involved in international feminist organizations almost from the beginning of their associational activities in the nineteenth century. 11 One of the oldest of these organizations was the International Council of Women (FCW), founded in 1888. 12 ,QWKHÀUVW decades of the twentieth century, some Ottoman women attended its confer- ences, but these participants were often linked to the Ottoman opposition LQH[LOHPHDQLQJWKH\GLGQRWVHUYHDVRIÀFLDOGHOHJDWHVRIWKH7XUNLVK National Council of Women. 13 Hayriye Ben-Ayad, an Ottoman-Muslim woman, however, appears on the roster of participants at the international women’s congress of the ICW in Berlin in 1904. 14 ,QDGGLWLRQ6HOPD5×]D the sister of the leader of the Young Turk opposition in Paris, was in contact with French women’s associations during her exile and served as honorary vice-president for the Ottoman Empire, where a council of women was not yet formed, of the ICW between 1909 and 1923. She wrote a report on Turkey in the annual protocol of the ICW in 1909 and 1910 and expressed her willingness to open a branch of the ICW in Turkey. 15 With the founding of the republic, the new authorities stressed the close ties between “modernization” and the emancipation of women, but they—the Kemalist elite—developed an ambiguous attitude towards the ZRPHQ·VPRYHPHQW7KHIHPLQLVWVFKRODU

Solidarity) obtained membership in the ICW, and this organization hosted the 1960 conference in Istanbul. The archives of the ICW contain numerous letters and documents that allow us to reconstruct the events leading up to the creation of the Turkish Council of Women. 28 7KURXJKWKHVHÀOHVZH gain insights into the different perspectives, expectations, prejudices, ide- ologies, goals, and agendas of agents taking part in these encounters. These sources also reveal the international power relations that helped shape the international women’s movement at the time.

ICW’s Contacts with Turkish Women in the Post-World War II Period The initiative to establish relations between the ICW and potential Turk- ish partners in the post-World War II period was clearly taken from the “top down.” It was the ambition of the ICW to become the leading international women’s organization, and seeking membership of national councils of “non-Western” or “non-Christian” countries became an important priority. 29 7KH,&:ZDVRQHRIWKHQRQJRYHUQPHQWDORUJDQL]DWLRQV 1*2V DIÀOLDWHG with the United Nations (UN), and it played a major role in the creation of a subcommission on women’s rights within the Commission on Human Rights of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), soon to become the separate Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). 30 This meant that the ICW (and other such international women’s NGOs as the IAW) functioned DVDOREE\JURXSRQDKLJKGLSORPDWLFOHYHOHIIHFWLYHO\LQÁXHQFLQJWKHKX - man rights agenda of the UN and its agencies. 31 In this context, the group sought to speak for a wide group of women’s organizations found all over the world. The Cold War made the need to raise the number of friendly membership organizations all the more pressing. In 1945, a new interna- tional organization was founded, the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF), which developed into a USSR-supported association of women’s groups. 32 :RPHQ·VULJKWVEHFDPHRQHRIWKHEDWWOHÀHOGVRIWKH Cold War. Federations of both blocs increasingly oriented their proselytism on women in the “third world.” 33 As Turkey clearly took sides with the Western bloc, it seemed only natural that the ICW would establish contacts with women’s associations in the country. 34 It was in the context of the Cold War that the leading women of the ICW started looking for contacts in Turkey. In January 1948, the Belgian Marthe Boël, who had just stepped down as president, received a note from the American Frances Freeman writing from Delhi that she had “had a fascinating week in Istanbul” and reporting that “the Turkish women are now allowed to organize and want to do so.” 35 She provided the names of 46 Journal of Women ’s History Fall potentially useful contacts. Some of these women were long-term Ameri- can residents of Istanbul who were active in the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), such as Phoebe Clary and “her good friend” Mrs. N. *0(GZDUGV6KHDOVRPHQWLRQHGWKHHFRQRPLVW$ÀIH)HY]H6D\LQ0UV J. K. Birge (the wife of John Kingsley Birge, an employee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), and Fahrünisa Seden, a pioneer of Turkish nursing and the founder of Florence Nightingale nursing schools in Istanbul. The mission to establish contacts in Turkey apparently proved unsuccessful. 7KH,&:ÀOHRQ7XUNH\VKRZVWKDWWKH(XURSHDQDQG$PHULFDQOHDG - ers of the ICW continued to use their international network of women in diplomatic services and international agencies to get into contact with highly educated, elite Turkish women. Intermediaries in these networks were mostly non-Turkish women who had experiences in the region or non-Muslim Turkish women. The archives contain several scraps of paper on which potential contact persons and their addresses were written down. These names include the Turkish president of the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WWCTU), at the time one of the biggest international women’s associations. 36 Greece was another obvious stepping-stone to reach Turkey. A Greek FRXQFLOZDVDIÀOLDWHGZLWKWKH,&:EHJLQQLQJLQDQGWKH%HOJLDQ council had a Greek woman, Iris Gripekoven (married to a Belgian), among its ranks. When, in September 1951, Gripekoven was on an archaeological mission in Turkey, ICW headquarters asked her to try to make contact with local women’s groups. 37 The intermediaries suggested she ask help from A. Mimicopoulo, a Greek woman who had studied in Istanbul and was the president of Constantinople Women’s College Association in Greece. They also suggested she might contact Andromache Tsongas, an American woman of Greek descent who was working as an expert for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN in Ankara and also served as a coun- selor for the Turkish government. Gripekoven’s time in Ankara was limited, however, and she was unable to establish lasting contacts. 38 Overtures continued. The Swiss doctor Renée Girod approached Greece’s Turkish ambassador at a dinner party in Athens. Girod once served as president of the ICW and was a leading personality in many Swiss and international women’s and philanthropic organizations. The ambassador VXJJHVWHG DPRQJRWKHUV 7H]HU7DüN×UDQGDXJKWHURIWKHIDPRXV.HPDOLVW SROLWLFLDQDQGZULWHU$KPHW$ùDRùOXDQGKHUVHOIDZHOONQRZQSURPRWHURI female education—from 1941, she also served as a member of the Turkish SDUOLDPHQW,Q0DUFKWKHSUHVLGHQWRIWKH,&:ZURWHWR7DüN×UDQLQ Ankara, but she received no reply. 39 2016 Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele 47

Closer ties were made possible by the Belgian Katie Bromham, who had spent part of her youth in Istanbul. Trained as a musician, Bromham wrote children’s songs and taught music. It was probably music that brought her into contact with Mediha Gezgin, a music teacher like Bromham, who was living and working in Istanbul. In the summer of 1953, Bromham met several other women at Gezgin’s house to discuss the start of a national FRXQFLODIÀOLDWHGZLWKWKH,&:7KHVHZRPHQLQFOXGHG6UH\\D$ùDRùOX a former professor and MP who was also the president of the Soroptimists of Istanbul and head of an association of female university graduates. Ac- cording to Bromham, these women were all of “the advanced kind” and “well educated.” They were also determined to create a new organization “outside the old feminine movement of the Union of Turkish Women that has twice been reorganized & restarted and whose work doesn’t seem satisfactory to them.” Bromham was convinced that Gezgin would be a suitable president. “She is the daughter of a very clever and well-known man of the last Regime [commander of the Military Academy and writer, 6OH\PDQ+VQ3DüD@KHUEURWKHUZDVDOVRDSURPLQHQWPDQDQGTXLWH apart from personal sympathy, I do admire her steadfastness, her courage and fervent desire to do useful work for her country in general and women in particular.” 40 *H]JLQZDVLQGHHGRQHRIWKHLQÁXHQWLDOZRPHQLQYROYHGLQ several philanthropic and nationalist organizations since the 1910s. She had already founded an association, 0VOPDQ.DG×Q%LUOLùL (Muslim Women’s Union), in June 1919 with the aim of serving the social and economic inter- ests of Muslim women. 41 She had also taken part in the foundation of the TKB in 1923, along with Muhittin. The president of the ICW, the Swiss chemist and doctor Jeanne Eder, followed up upon this suggestion to establish a Turkish branch of the ICW under the leadership of Gezgin and wrote to the latter in October 1953. “It was,” she wrote, “with great pleasure and deep satisfaction that we heard from Mme Katie Bromham of Belgium of the desire of outstanding Turkish women to form a National Council of Women and to join the world-wide sisterhood of the International Council of Women.” She explained why Tur- key was high on the priority list of the ICW: “Our organization is steadily extending into Africa, the Near East and Asia. We have well established national councils in Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, India and Burma as well as in many African states and territories. It is one of our deepest concerns on WKHRQHKDQGWRVSUHDGRXULQÁXHQFHDQGRQWKHRWKHUKDQGWRZLGHQRXU scope and interests by gaining the cooperation of the Islamic and Asian world.” 42 Turkey clearly belonged to this “Oriental,” “Islamic” world. She knew that Bromham had good knowledge of Turkish politics; on one of the letters, the secretary added a note in pencil: “Visit Mlle. Bromham, 14.5.54: 48 Journal of Women ’s History Fall

Never mention Islam. Turkey is a lay country.” 43 Bromham was well aware of the secularist Turkish elite’s determination to project an image of a mod- ern and secular country instead of an Islamic one. But for Bromham too, Turkey was clearly an Oriental country, especially in terms of what Turks “lacked” vis-à-vis the West. Bromham wrote from Bursa in the summer of 1955 to Jeanne Eder, the chair of the ICW: “These women have a lot to learn to render their work much more fruitful. As you may know, organization and method are what the Turkish people most lack.” 44 Gezgin meanwhile succeeded in founding a new women’s association, WRJHWKHUZLWKúIIHW+DOLP2UX]DZULWHUDQGIRUPHUDFWLYLVWRIWKH7.%%XW LWQHYHUDIÀOLDWHGZLWKWKH,&:GHVSLWHWKHOHDGHUVKLS·VLQWHQWLRQWRGRVR 45 The association, known as the .DG×QODU×.RUXPD'HUQHùL (KKD, Association for Protecting Women), sought to establish wide international contacts. 46 Bromham wrote a French report on the activities of the KKD in July 1955, which was published in the Bulletin of the ICW, describing the philanthropic activities of the organization, which aimed to “contribute to the social and moral protection of women.” 47 And in an intra-ICW letter, she repeated that Gezgin and her group were “on a good track but have much to learn about organized work.” They “deserve support and encouragement.” They “badly need” “international contact,” “even if they don’t realize it under WKHLQÁXHQFHVRIQDWLRQDOLVPµ 48 ICW headquarters seemed convinced that, with the necessary guidance and assistance, Gezgin would be able to construct a Turkish council. They invited her as “organizer of the Turkish NC” to the upcoming triennial con- ference in Helsinki, where she could observe the activities and procedures of the ICW and familiarize herself with the other members. Gezgin accepted the invitation, but just days before the meeting, she had to write to Eder that she could not participate because she had not obtained the necessary docu- ments from Ankara. 49 ,WZDVRQO\WKHÀUVWLQDVHULHVRIIDLOHGPHHWLQJV7KH archival documents are open to two interpretations to explain this failure. They show either that the Turkish government actively obstructed Gezgin’s attempts to collaborate with the ICW or, alternatively, that Gezgin failed to use her political contacts to counter bureaucratic inertia. The Turkish national council’s constitution was sent to the ICW sec- UHWDULDWDQGVXEPLWWHGWRWKHFRQJUHVVLQ9HQLFHLQEXWRIÀFLDODIÀOL - ation still did not take place. Gezgin was invited to the congress, but due to currency restrictions, she was again unable to participate. In 1957, at the triennial conference in Montreal, Gezgin was absent again because she had to undergo surgery, but the young lawyer Melike Güler represented her association. 50 The latter did not make a favorable impression on the ICW OHDGHUVKRZHYHUDVVKHDWWHQGHGWKHFRQIHUHQFHRQO\EULHÁ\DQGKDUGO\ 2016 Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele 49 spoke to the organizers. 51 It seems that she misused her opportunity to travel abroad and was not seriously interested in establishing viable contacts for WKH..'DQGIXUWKHUSURPRWLQJDIÀOLDWLRQ ,QWKHLQWHULPWKH,&:JRDOVRILQWHUQDWLRQDOQHWZRUNLQJDQGDIÀOLD - tion encountered many problems. No progress was made during 1956 and 1957, partly because Gezgin was unable to travel abroad and participate in international meetings. In 1957, the French Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux succeeded Swiss Jeanne Eder as the president of the ICW. Lefaucheux had a long expertise in international affairs and had numerous contacts with diplomats and politicians. Together with Vice-President Rose Barclay Par- sons from the United States, Lefaucheux encouraged renewed dedication to the geographical expansion of the ICW. 52 Turkey was again high on the priority list. On April 21, 1958, Lefaucheux explained to the French ambas- sador in Turkey, “Our Councils of Muslim countries belong to the Classical tradition in Islam, which explains why we ardently wish the creation of a Council in Turkey.” 53 Lefaucheux apparently made a (questionable) distinc- tion between secular Turkey and other more “truly Islamic” countries as Egypt, Lebanon, and Pakistan, which all had national councils attached to the ICW. 54 In the beginning of 1958, the trip of the English Lady Marjorie Nunburnholme (née Carrington), one of the vice-presidents of the ICW, offered the perfect occasion for a new attempt at establishing a Turkish council. Lady Nunburnholme attended the wedding of her grandson in April 1958 in Ankara. The ICW headquarters sent her a letter containing different names of interesting people she might contact, as well as a typed document summarizing the earlier attempts to establish a Turkish council. 5HÁHFWLQJWKHOLPLWDWLRQVRIWKHLQWHUQDWLRQDOHIIRUW/DG\1XQEXUQ - holme did not visit Gezgin nor any other representative of existing civil society organizations. She instead spoke to the British Ambassador Sir James Bowker, who “was most interested and helpful”: “He told me Turkish Women were very anxious to join European & American Women’s Associa- tions. He introduced me to a very charming woman, wife of the Foreign Minister Madame Zorlu. I was able to talk to her for about 10 minutes at a dance at the British Embassy & told her our interests lay on the whole [with the] Status of Women in the family & that we were International having both the most highly developed countries & also the very latest independent countries amongst our national councils . . . Next day after the wedding—which was very lovely & beautifully arranged—I spoke to two women MPs with no success at all.” 55 These female politicians voiced what Lady Nunburnholme had heard earlier from Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan, then Pakistani ambassador in The Hague—that the new regime had realized gender equality, making a Turkish national council of women redundant. 50 Journal of Women ’s History Fall

Lady Nunburnholme’s visit redirected the ICW’s focus from Istanbul to Ankara and to the highest political circles there. Lefaucheux wrote to Henri Spitzmüller, the ambassador of France in Ankara, for help, “in my personal capacity.” She listed the contact persons that had been suggested over the last few years (including Gezgin and Güler) and asked the ambas- VDGRU´WRJLYHVRPHFRQÀGHQWLDOLQGLFDWLRQVDERXWWKHLUSHUVRQDOLWLHVµ 56 6KHDOVRZURWHWRWKHZLIHRI)DWLQ5üW=RUOXWKHPLQLVWHURI)RUHLJQ $IIDLUVLQWKH0HQGHUHVJRYHUQPHQWWRKHOSWKH,&:LQÀQGLQJWKHPRVW suitable feminine groups in Turkey to collaborate with. 57 At a UN meeting in New York in December 1958, meanwhile, Barclay Parsons met Adile $\GD7XUNH\·VÀUVWZRPDQGLSORPDWZRUNLQJDWWKHWLPHDVOHJDODGYLVRU for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and spoke to her about “the possibility of a National Council of Women of Turkey.” 58 Lefaucheux followed up on this meeting by writing to Ayda in February 1959. 59 Two months later, the ICW secretariat invited Ayda to the meeting of the Executive Committee of the ICW in Vienna. Gezgin received the same invitation. Magdeleine Leroy-Boy, another vice-president of the ICW and the wife of a Belgian diplomat, was in Istanbul in March 1959 on a mission to help establish the Turkish council. Gezgin organized a meeting at the Hilton with thirteen women—members of her own association, Melike Güler, and representatives of other philanthropic groups. The representative of the IAW stayed away with no apology, an- other sign of the distance and animosity between the two international organizations. Leroy-Boy explained the working of the ICW and invited a 7XUNLVKGHOHJDWLRQWR9LHQQD$SDUWIURPWKLVRIÀFLDOPHHWLQJDWWKH+LOWRQ /HUR\%R\DOVRKDGORQJDQGFRQÀGHQWLDOWDONVZLWK*H]JLQZKRGHVFULEHG herself as “an active, very determined and even stubborn feminist.” Gezgin explained how she had established contacts with Eder through Bromham but had not heard anything from the ICW headquarters since they had been moved to Paris by Lefaucheux. Leroy-Boy had a positive impression of Gezgin: “Mme Gezgin seems to have all the necessary qualities to suc- ceed; she is unfortunately rather old and I have not been able to determine the quality of her most important collaborators. I think the problem will EHWKHVDPHDVDQ\ZKHUHHOVHWRÀQGWKHIHPLQLVWSHUVRQTXLWH\RXQJDQG dynamic, who is competent, has a feeling for organization, diplomatic skills and . . . time! all indispensable elements in the formation of a NC.” Lawyer DQGZULWHU6UH\\D$ùDRùOXFDPHFORVHVWWRWKLVLGHDOEXWVKHVHHPHGWRR much taken by her current job. Leroy-Boy was well aware of the Ankara contacts of Lefaucheux and discussed these with Gezgin. The Istanbul women feared that the Ankara women were “less developed” and less Eu- URSHDQ/HUR\%R\LQVLVWHGLQKHUOHWWHUWR3DULVWKDWWKHRIÀFLDOLQYLWDWLRQ 2016 Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele 51 for Vienna be sent to Gezgin as soon as possible so that she could obtain the necessary permits from Ankara well in time. 60

The Founding of the Turkish Council $\GDNQHZDERXW*H]JLQ·V..'KHUUHTXHVWWREHDIÀOLDWHGWRWKH ICW, and that Leroy-Boy was Gezgin’s “interprète.” In a letter written to Lefaucheux, Ayda explains why Gezgin ought to be overlooked: she, Ayda, KDGQRWRQO\UHFHLYHGDQRIÀFLDOPLVVLRQIURP%DUFOD\3DUVRQV EHIRUH/HUR\ Boy’s visit to Istanbul), but her group was also more appropriate. According WR$\GDWKHULYDOJURXSZDVDIÀOLDWHGZLWKWKH,$:ZDVWKHUHIRUHDSROLWLFDO association, and thus an unsuitable candidate for the ICW. 61 It is unclear ZKHWKHU$\GDZDVLOOLQIRUPHGRUSXUSRVHO\OLHGWRLQÁXHQFHWKHERDUG It is equally uncertain whether she had a hand in preventing Gezgin from traveling to Vienna. In any case, while Ayda made it to Vienna, Gezgin had to decline once again; she had received her foreign currencies too late, and WKH\ZHUHLQVXIÀFLHQWWRPHHWWKHDQWLFLSDWHGH[SHQGLWXUHV 62 With Ayda present in Vienna, events moved very fast. According to her own account published in 1991, Ayda’s initial plan was to transform the $QQHOHU 'HUQHùL (Association of Mothers), which she had founded LQ0D\LQWRDQDIÀOLDWHRIWKH,&:/HIDXFKHX[RSSRVHGWKLVSODQ telling Ayda that focusing on motherhood instead of defending women’s work in public space was just the opposite of the ICW philosophy. 63 In only ÀYHGD\VZKLOHVKHZDVLQ9LHQQD$\GDIRXQGHGDQHZDVVRFLDWLRQWKLV time under the name of .DG×QODU'D\DQ×üPD'HUQHùL (KDD, Association for :RPHQ·V6ROLGDULW\ $\KDQ7LPXUWDüDODZ\HUGDXJKWHURIWKHFKDLUPDQ of the Turkish parliament, and wife of a MP based in Ankara, helped Ayda create the new organization, and the well-known writer Halide Nusret Zorlutuna accepted the presidency. Ayda submitted a request for the KDD to join the ICW, which was approved. The KDD, a spontaneously founded association with no roots in the women’s movement, became one of the IRUW\ÀYHQDWLRQDOEUDQFKHVRI,&: 64 The meeting also agreed to organize the next triennial conference of the ICW in Istanbul. Leroy-Boy wrote a letter to Gezgin after the Vienna meeting to share the “good news” about the creation and recognition of a Turkish council and WRVXJJHVWWKDWKHUDVVRFLDWLRQVKRXOGDIÀOLDWHZLWKWKH.'' 65 Leroy-Boy did not realize that this was a painful question for Gezgin. In the weeks following the meeting, the ICW leadership became aware that not everyone in Turkey was happy with the outcome. Many letters contained confusing and contradictory information. Not knowing what to think, Lefaucheux wrote again to Spitzmüller. 66 The ambassador explained how Gezgin and 52 Journal of Women ’s History Fall

Ayda had become competitors. He personally sided with Ayda, who had studied in France, was well-known in government circles in Ankara, and was an important scholar of the poet Mallarmé: “Mme Ayda seems to be EHWWHUTXDOLÀHGWRUHSUHVHQWKHUFRXQWU\LQWHUQDWLRQDOO\DQGVKHLVPRUH representative than Mme Gezgin of the modern Turkish woman. It has to be remarked, however, that the association she presides is still in its begin- nings and little known.” 67 In other words, Ayda’s intellectual assets and her diplomatic position, not her brand-new paper organization’s roots in women’s associational activism, enabled the establishment of a Turkish council. 68 Gezgin’s earlier attempts had been totally in vain in the absence of the diplomatic and educational assets Ayda possessed that were so valued by her international FROOHDJXHVDQG$\GD·VRIÀFLDOSRVLWLRQDQGOLQNVLQWKHFDSLWDOIDFLOLWDWHGWKH bureaucratic procedures for establishing the council. Ayda was not totally isolated from the women’s movement in Turkey, however. ICW develop- ments appeared in the Istanbul-based weekly .DG×Q *D]HWHVL (Women’s 1HZVSDSHU DQHZVSDSHUHGLWHGDQGSXEOLVKHGVLQFH0DUFKE\úIIHW Halim Oruz, writer and civil society activist, who was one of the founders of Gezgin’s KKD. In September 1959, the weekly published a letter from Barclay Parsons on the possibility and conditions of membership of national associations in the ICW. 69 That same day, the weekly also reported the elec- tion of “the famous legal consultant and literary critic,” Adile Ayda, as the president of the KDD. Ayda had arrived in Istanbul, the weekly stated, in order to found the Istanbul branch of the organization. 70 During this visit, Oruz became president of the KDD’s Istanbul branch. The .DG×Q*D]HWHVL thereafter dedicated its columns to this “new women’s organization.” 71 A IHZZHHNVODWHUWKHPDJD]LQHDQQRXQFHGWKDWWKH7XUNLVKVWDWHKDGRIÀFLDOO\ UDWLÀHGWKHPHPEHUVKLSRIWKH.''LQWKH,&: 72 In an article titled “Turkish Council,” Oruz wrote, “Energetic Turkish womanhood in Atatürk’s Turkey, fully having her civil rights and being active in all occupations, certainly played a positive role in the international arena.” 73 She made no reference to the earlier contacts of Gezgin with the ICW. Parsons contacted Ayda in December 1959, suggesting (in vain) that the KDD might try to reach some agreement and understanding with the RWKHUZRPHQ·VDVVRFLDWLRQVLQFOXGLQJWKH7.%FKDLUHGE\1D]O×7ODEDU03 for Istanbul and Turkish representative at the European Council. 74 In 1960, the secretaries of the ICW and the Turkish council exchanged several letters on the topic. Ayda was willing to invite other associations to the triennial FRQIHUHQFHLQ,VWDQEXORQWKHFRQGLWLRQWKDWWKH\DIÀOLDWHZLWKWKH7XUNLVK council. 75 Ayda’s anxiety concerning Gezgin’s and Tlabar’s involvement in this process can be traced to their respective “political” positions. Gezgin 2016 Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele 53

ZDVPRUHRXWVSRNHQO\IHPLQLVWH[HPSOLÀHGE\KHUDWWHPSWVWRHVWDEOLVKD woman’s party in 1953 and 1957. 76 In a meeting organized in January 1958 in Istanbul, the TKB’s Istanbul branch had opposed this project, claiming there was no need for such a political party, as Turkish women had already obtained suffrage thanks to the Turkish revolution. 77 Tlabar, on the other KDQGZDVFORVHO\DIÀOLDWHGZLWKWKH'3JRYHUQPHQWZKLFKFRXOGH[SODLQ Ayda’s distance from the TKB. In the late 1950s, there was a growing tension between the bureaucratic elites and the DP, increasingly seen as a backward party, heavily relying on Anatolian peasants and carelessly dealing with Atatürk’s secularist heritage. 78 'HVSLWHWKHLUGLIIHUHQFHVDQGFRQÁLFWVERWK.''DQG7.%HPERGLHG WKHRIÀFLDOSRVLWLRQRIVWDWHIHPLQLVPGHQ\LQJRULJQRULQJWKHROGHUSUH republican feminist legacy that, as a movement autonomous from and even in opposition to the state, proved that the struggle for women’s rights was initiated by women themselves. KDD and TKB, in contrast, insisted on the VSHFLÀFLW\RIWKH7XUNLVKUHSXEOLFDQSDWKWRIHPDOHHPDQFLSDWLRQ7KHODZ - \HUûHPLQXUúQDQoPHPEHURIWKH7XUNLVKFRXQFLOZURWHLQWKH Quarterly Review of the ICW, “There are two ways of obtaining rights and favors: to shout loudly that you must have these rights or to prove silently by your acts that you are worthy of having them. Turkish women chose the second method. As a matter of fact there has never been any suffragette activity as such. But once the country was liberated and a republican form of govern- ment instituted, it appeared natural to the founders of the Republic to offer Turkish women the same rights as the men beside whom she had fought.” 79 7KLVZDVRIFRXUVHSDUWRIWKH´RIÀFLDOµ.HPDOLVWYLHZDQGP\WKRORJ\ but it was equally an argument against European arrogance and a way to counter “Western” chronologies and hierarchies. 80

The ICW Congress in Istanbul For the ICW leadership, it was most important that eventually there was DQDIÀOLDWHG7XUNLVKFRXQFLODQGLWZHOFRPHGWKHSURVSHFWRIDFRQJUHVVLQ Istanbul. This location would emphasize that the ICW was well on its way to becoming a truly global organization. In one of her letters, Leroy-Boy expressed personal satisfaction about the decision. In a typical “feminist orientalist” manner, without feeling the need to specify why Turkish women PLJKWEHQHÀWIURPDQDOOLDQFHZLWKWKH,&:VKHZURWHWKDW´WKLVPDQLIHVWD - tion will have a positive effect on the evolution in the women’s problems of the Middle East.” 81 For the ICW, Turkey had a “strategic,” almost “geopoliti- cal” importance. In the geographic imagination of the European women who steered the ICW from Paris, Turkey clearly belonged to the “East” and was 54 Journal of Women ’s History Fall a stepping-stone to other regions in Asia. This becomes painfully clear in a letter from Lefaucheux to Lady Reading (née Stella Marchaud), in which she spoke of an attempt “to create a Council in Nepal”: “Since Turkey is UHODWLYHO\FORVHWRWKDWFRXQWU\ZHPLJKWSURÀWIURPWKLVVLWXDWLRQWRWDNH contact with this new Asian country.” 82 If the Turkish members of the ICW KDGUHDGWKHVHOLQHVWKH\ZRXOGGHÀQLWHO\KDYHEHHQGLVDSSRLQWHGE\EH - ing dislocated from the place (“the West”) that they claimed to be part of and relegated to the imagined category of “the East.” While the ICW and the KDD made the practical arrangements for the conference, something unforeseen occurred; on May 27, 1960, the military declared a coup against the Democratic Party government. For several years, the relations between the DP government and the opposition had become tense, resulting in violent incidents. 83 After the coup, the pro-government TKB was in trouble, as its president Tlabar was arrested and imprisoned along with several other DP politicians. The coup had no negative impact on the KDD, however, since the group immediately expressed its loyalty to the junta, adopting an explicitly anti-DP position in the weekly .DG×Q*D]HWHVL . On June 4, 1960, the headline of the weekly read “Mothers are the source of power embedded in Turkish soldiers. They will of course support them.” The headline was followed by a letter to the leader of the junta, General Cemal Gürsel, expressing women’s gratitude to the army and by a report on the visit of the members of the KDD to the new military governor of Istanbul. 84 The ICW was reassured that the congress could take place as planned. Lefaucheux was persuaded on this point by Ayda, who travelled especially from The Hague to Paris, as well as by French Ambassador Spitzmüller, who quickly sided with the military government in his reports to Paris, and the Turkish ambassador in Paris. 85 The “a political” ICW preferred not to analyze the situation in much detail and did not seem too concerned about the imprisonment of Tlabar and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fatin 5üW=RUOX ZKRZRXOGHYHQWXDOO\EHH[HFXWHG ZKRVHZLIHKDGEHHQ consulted by Lefaucheux only months before. Having no interest in such developments, the ICW assembled under the protection of the military government. 86 Lefaucheux even insisted it was important that enough “female personalities whose sympathies are with the new Government” were represented on the board of the Turkish council and asked the French embassy to help screen the members, a precaution that was unnecessary given KDD’s political position and leadership. 87 The military’s mark on the congress was most apparent in the congress booklet prepared and published by the KDD and .DG×Q*D]HWHVL under the auspices of the Turkish Broadcasting, Press, and Tourism Department. The ERRNOHWZULWWHQLQ(QJOLVKUHÁHFWHGWKHSRVWFRXSSROLWLFDODWPRVSKHUH ZLWKLWVÀUVWSDJHVGHGLFDWHGQRWRQO\WR$WDWUN´WKHIRXQGDWRU>VLF@RIWKH 2016 Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele 55

Turkish Republic,” but also to General Cemal Gürsel, “the Commander of the Armed Forces of the 27 May Revolution, President and Prime Minister of Turkey,” as well as to the “May 27 Reform: The Victory of the Army,

“the capacity of the organization, which uses the sentiment of motherhood IRUWKHEHQHÀWRIVRFLHW\WRUHDFKGHFLVLRQVZLWKODUJHLPSDFWµ 94 There is no indication that Lefaucheux replied to these constant exaltations of motherhood. In her speech, Lefaucheux praised Turkey’s “unparalleled UHIRUPVLQWKHÀHOGRIZRPHQ·VULJKWVDQGVRFLDOVLWXDWLRQµDQG´WKHFRXU - age and determination of the Turkish woman,” while she made clear that “women should not be kept away from issues related to humanity.” 95 The president of the American delegation, Louise J. Robbins, similarly declared in an interview that “there was no longer anything which could be called ‘women’s own issues.’” Hence, she stated, women “deal with world issues which are related to women, unlike the old suffragette movement which has to be left behind.” 96 In other words, in addition to highlighting a Turkish state feminism emphasizing motherhood, the press also repeated some of the ICW’s feminist demands to have an equal say in world affairs, beyond the acquisition of political rights. The ICW delegates’ emphasis on women’s role in international politics was not understood or taken seriously by the most popular representatives of the Turkish press. For instance, Hayat (Life), a widely circulated weekly magazine, dedicated two pages of its issue of September 9, 1960, to the ICW congress. 97 The interview accompanying the photographs of the delegates and the inaugural meeting was, however, not really about the content of the congress. The article ended with a story of an American delegate who supposedly “discussed in the commission on ‘international relations and peace’ ‘manly’ issues such as ‘atom,’ ‘stars,’ ‘constitution,’” until she went out to meet her husband in the hotel but found in her room a note by her spouse instead, who had left her, as he was tired of living in her shadow. This anti-feminist sarcasm revealed not only the demeaning attitude toward women’s political activism but also the incapacity of the mainstream Turk- ish press to make sense of the ICW congress. Lily Marx, the Italian delegate who was responsible for the press, complained in an interview she gave to journalist Erduran from the daily Milliyet about the lack of interest in the press. She blamed Oruz’s poor SUHSDUDWLRQVFODLPLQJWKDWWKHSUHVVFRQIHUHQFHZDV´DÀDVFRµDVQRLQ - vitations to journalists had been sent beforehand. She then took matters in KHURZQKDQGVDQGEHJDQSD\LQJYLVLWVWRWKHQHZVSDSHURIÀFHV 98 Erduran observed that Turkish women from different associations made no secret of the lack of dialogue and solidarity among themselves. 99 This tension was not surprising, given the top-down organization of the Turkish council. In general, more than the content of the congress, foreign delegates’ views on Turkey attracted the attention of important newspapers and weeklies. The dailies Vatan and

ÁDWWHULQJREVHUYDWLRQVDERXW´WKHVXFFHVVHVRI7XUNLVKZRPHQµ´WKHFKRLFH of Istanbul as the place for the congress,” and “the peacefulness of the recent military intervention.” 1005LNNDW.|NQDURI Cumhuriyet asked, “How did they see us?” Some delegates (such as the Senegalese one) found nothing to criticize, while others (the Italian and Canadian delegates) were surprised by the “slowness” of the people and the life in Istanbul and “the absence of women in public spaces.” 101 While the interview in Cumhuriyet UHÁHFWHGWKHGHOHJDWHV·QHJDWLYHDQG critical observations, Oruz wrote in .DG×Q*D]HWHVL only about their positive feedback, underscoring the Turkish claim to modernity: “The impression they got was extremely positive. They came to Turkey thinking that it was an Eastern country. But they left seeing that we are the people of a Western FRXQWU\)RUW\ÀYH7XUNLVKZRPHQZKRZRUNHGDVKRVWVJXLGHVVHUYHG EHWWHUWKDQIRUW\ÀYHDPEDVVDGRUVµ 102 These comments clearly show that “representing” the nation and proving that Turkey belonged to the West rather than the East was an important mission of Turkish women. But opinions differed. Unlike Oruz’s optimism, Hasene Ilgaz (a for- mer member of parliament between 1943 and 1950) reminded readers in her article in .DG×Q*D]HWHVL about the 1935 congress—to which she was one of the delegates—and pointed out the “grim reality” of “the position RIRXUZRPDQKRRGODJJLQJEHKLQGµWKH:HVWWKHODVWWZHQW\ÀYH\HDUV 103 7KH,&:FRQJUHVVVLPLODUO\HQFRXUDJHGPDQ\MRXUQDOLVWVWRVHOIUHÁHFW on the republic’s commitment to Westernization and the related aim of women’s liberation. Many commentators complained about the failure to solve the women’s issue. For instance, Vecihi Ünal of the daily $NüDP , after quoting Lefaucheux’s inaugural speech emphasizing the lack of practical implementation of the legal equality between men and women, described the dilemma of Turkish women “caught between Western culture and the country’s realities.” 104 The continuation of women’s traditional habit of Is- lamic veiling in the form of oDUüDI (a loose and usually black outdoor cloth for women veiling the whole body except the face or eyes) was, according to the author, one of these sad realities. As a matter of fact, during the ICW congress, Turkish newspapers were preoccupied with the issue of oDUüDI rather than the agenda of the congress. Even .DG×Q*D]HWHVL ’s front page that week turned to the same TXHVWLRQ8QGHUWKHKHDGOLQH´7XUNLVKZRPDQKRRGÀJKWVDJDLQVW oDUüDI ,” the weekly positively reported on a campaign initiated by a Kemalist NGO requesting that the junta government ban this “backward” cloth that made them “ashamed vis-à-vis the world.” 105 The junta government supported the request and took part in the campaign “to save Turkish women from this terrible dress,” although it enacted no law imposing a code of dress on women. 106 58 Journal of Women ’s History Fall

In other words, both the junta and the Turkish council had a com- mon interest in representing Turkey as a Western country with advanced women’s rights. Hosting an international feminist congress gave them the FKDQFHWRHPSKDVL]H7XUNH\·VVXFFHVVHVLQWKHÀHOGRIZRPHQ·VOLEHUDWLRQ DQG:HVWHUQL]DWLRQRQWKHSDWKRI.HPDO$WDWUN7KHÀJKWDJDLQVWDIRUP RIGUHVVWKDWV\PEROLFDOO\FRQWUDGLFWHGWKHVHLGHDOVPHDQZKLOHUHÁHFWHGDQ anxiety that provided the context within which the ICW congress took place.

Conclusion: Transnational Feminism within the Context of Nationalism and Orientalism The story of the establishment of a Turkish branch of the ICW illumi- nates the dynamics of transnational women’s activism and its implications for Turkish feminism in the 1950s. The archival materials of the ICW make it clear that encounters between international and local activists were mediated largely within diplomatic circles, as women’s NGOs and profes- sional diplomats actively collaborated. The ICW chair Hélène Lefaucheux thus relied on French Ambassador Henri Spitzmüller to determine her own policy; similarly, rather than a leader of a local NGO like Gezgin or 2UXNLWZDV$GLOH$\GD7XUNH\·VÀUVWIHPDOHGLSORPDWZKRVXFFHVVIXOO\ founded the Turkish council. Although contacts had existed between the ICW and the Turkish KKD (chaired by Mehida Gezgin) since 1953, it was only when Ayda coincidentally came into contact with a representative of the ICW during a UN meeting in New York that a Turkish national council RIZRPHQ .'' ZDVFUHDWHG³ÀUVWRQSDSHUWKHQLQUHDOLW\:LWKRXWIXOO\ realizing what was happening, ICW headquarters not only supported and legitimized an elite form of Turkish state feminism but also created new cleavages within it by letting down older, more socially rooted women’s groups, including the KKD and the TKB. The historical narrative above based on hitherto unexplored archival material attempted to unearth this forgotten instance of transnational women’s activism at the end of the 1950s. In this transnational encounter, Orientalist categories were shared by European, North American, and Turk- ish women alike. For the leaders in the ICW headquarters, it was important to include the “Oriental Other” in its “universal,” worldwide campaign for women’s rights, while Turkish state feminists perceived and framed ICW membership as a sign of the modernity of their nation and its non-Oriental position. In other words, both nationalism and Orientalism marked the transnational feminism of this “between-the-waves” period. 2016 Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele 59

Notes

1See, for example, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourse,” Boundary 2 12, no. 3 (1984): 333–58; Mahmudul Hasan, “The Orientalization of Gender,” American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 22, QR  ²0H\GD

2Edward Said himself made this criticism most clearly in Culture and Imperial- ism , stating that “Eurocentrism penetrated to the core of the workers’ movement, the women’s movement, the avant-garde arts movement, leaving no one of sig- QLÀFDQFHXQWRXFKHGµ(GZDUG:6DLG Culture and Imperialism (London: Vintage Books, 1994), 268.

3Zonana, “The Sultan and the Slave,” 594.

4Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak? Speculations on :LGRZ6DFULÀFHµ Wedge   ²

5

6)RULQVWDQFH6HUSLOdDN×U 2VPDQO×.DG×Q+DUHNHWL QGHG úVWDQEXO0HWLV 1996); Aynur Demirbilek, 2VPDQO×.DG×QODU×Q×+D\DW+DNN×$UD\×ü×Q×Q%LU+LND\HVL $QNDUDúPJH  ûHÀND.XUQD] ,,0HüUXWL\HW'|QHPLQGH7UN.DG×Q×  úVWDQEXO 0LOOL(ùLWLP%DNDQO×ù× DQG

8&úüDW´7UN.DG×QODU%LUOLùLQGH'HYOHWYH6×Q×IúOLüNLOHULµ PDVWHU·VWKHVLV $QNDUD8QLYHUVLW\ =(GL]´&XPKXUL\HW'|QHPLQGH7UNL\H·GHNL.DG×Q gUJWOHQPHOHUL.DG×Q+DNODU×$o×V×QGDQELUúQFHOHPH ² µ 3K'GLVV úVWDQEXO8QLYHUVLW\ 6HUSLO6DQFDU 7UN0RGHUQOHüPHVLQLQ&LQVL\HWL(UNHNOHU 'HYOHW.DG×QODU$LOH.XUDU  ,VWDQEXOúOHWLüLP (PHO$NDO .×]×O)HPLQLVWOHU%LU 6|]O7DULKdDO×üPDV×  úVWDQEXOúOHWLüLP DQG0XD]]H]3HUYDQ úOHULFL.DG×QODU 'HUQHùL²  úVWDQEXO7DULK9DNI×  9Celia Donert, “Women’s Rights in Cold War Europe: Disentangling Feminist Histories,” Past & Present 218, suppl. 8 (2013): 180–202, 179.

10 Iris Berger, Stephen Brier, Ellen Carol DeBois, Jean H. Quataert, David Serlin, Rhonda Y. Williams, and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, “Reshaping History: The Intersection of Radical and Women’s History,” Journal of Women’s History 25, no. 4 (2013): 13–45, 34.

11 Nicole A.N.M. van Os, “Ottoman Muslim and Turkish Women in an Inter- national Context,” European Review 13, no. 3 (2005): 459–79; Nicole A.N.M. van Os, “Feminism, Philanthropy, and Patriotism: Female Associational Life in the Ottoman Empire” (PhD diss., Leiden University, 2013), 69–103.

12 Leila J. Rupp, Worlds of Women: The Making of an International Women’s Move- ment (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997).

13 Nitza Berkovitch mentions that Turkey had a national council beginning in 1913, but this seems to be an erroneous interpretation. Nitza Berkovitch, From Motherhood to Citizenship: Women’s Rights and International Organizations (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), 26.

14 van Os, “Feminism,” 83–84. 15 Ibid., 95–96.

16 =LKQLRùOX .DG×QV×]úQN×ODS , 171–74. 17 Kathryn Libal, “Staging Turkish Women’s Emancipation: Istanbul, 1935,” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 4, no. 1 (2008): 31–52, 38.

18 Female suffrage was introduced on 5 December 1935 (enabling women of 22 years old to vote and those above the age of 30 to be elected). In the indirect elections of 8 February 1935, seventeen women served as deputies of the national assembly.

19 van Os, “Ottoman,” 467. See also Charlotte Weber, “Unveiling Scheherazede: Feminist Orientalism in the International Alliance of Women, 1911–1950,” Feminist Studies 27, no. 1 (2001): 125–57.

20 úüDW´7UN.DG×QODU%LUOLùLQGHµ 21 =LKQLRùOX .DG×QV×]úQN×ODS , 250.

22 (GL]´.DG×QgUJWOHQPHOHULµ 23 úüDW´7UN.DG×QODU%LUOLùLQGHµ² 2016 Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele 61

24 (GL]´.DG×QgUJWOHQPHOHULµ 25 Ö. Çaha, 6LYLO.DG×Q7UNL\H¶GH6LYLO7RSOXPYH.DG×Q (Istanbul: Vadi, 1996), 130–31. Among similar women’s associations of the period were the Turkish-Amer- ican Women’s Association, Alumni Association of Istanbul Girls’ School, Midwives’ Association, and the Turkish Mothers’ Association. Sancar, 7UN0RGHUQOHüPHVLQLQ Cinsiyeti , 286–77.

26 úüDW´7UN.DG×QODU%LUOLùLQGHµ 27 van Os, “Ottoman,” 468.

28 For this period, the ICW archives are held in Brussels, Centre d’archives SRXUO·KLVWRLUHGHVIHPPHV$UFKLHIFHQWUXPYRRU9URXZHQJHVFKLHGHQLV KHUHDIWHU cited as AICW), www.avg-carhif.be.

29 Els Flour, “Survey of a Century and a Half of History,” in Women Changing the World: A History of the International Council of Women , ed. Eliane Gubin and Leen van Molle (Brussels: Racine, 2005), 13–44, esp. 20; and Leen Beyers, “The ICW and its National Councils: A Century of Worldwide Expansion,” in Gubin and van Molle, Women Changing the World , 45–66.

30 Catherine Jacques and Sylvie Lefebvre, “In the Wake of the United Nations Organisation: The Reconstruction and New Working Methods from the Second World War up to the Present,” in Gubin and van Molle, Women Changing the World , 121–48.

31 Margaret E. Galey, “International Enforcement of Women’s Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly 6, no. 4 (1984): 463–90; Felice Gaer, “Women, International Law, and International Institutions: The Case of the United Nations,” Women’s Studies International Forum 32, no. 1 (2009): 60–66; and Aaron Xavier Fellmeth, “Feminism and International Law: Theory, Methodology, and Substantive Reform,” Human Rights Quarterly 22, no. 3 (2000): 658–733.

32 Donert, “Women’s Rights in Cold War Europe”; and Francisca De Haan, “Continuing Cold War Paradigms in Western Historiography of Transnational Women’s Organisations: The Case of the Women’s International Democratic Federa- tion (WIDF),” Women’s History Review 19, no. 4 (2010): 547–73.

33 Flour, “Survey of a Century and a Half of History,” 42–43; and Jacques and Lefebvre, “In the Wake of the United Nations Organisation,” 127–28.

34 Henri J. Barkey, “Turkey and the Great Powers,” in Turkey’s Engagement with 0RGHUQLW\&RQÁLFWDQG&KDQJHLQWKH7ZHQWLHWK&HQWXU\ , ed. Celia Kerslake, Kerem Öktem, and Philip Robins (Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 239–57.

35 ‘Frances’ to M. Boël, 29 January 1948, 1800, AICW. 36 Berkovitch, From Motherhood to Citizenship , 27–30.

37 Letter to Gripekoven, 10 September 1951, 1800, AICW. See also letters to Helen Gmür, 6 September 1951 and Gmür to Tsongas, n.d., 1800, AICW. 62 Journal of Women ’s History Fall

38 Gripekoven to Secretary of ICW, 11 October 1951, 1800, AICW.

39 5HQHH*LURGWR7H]HU7DüN×UDQ0DUFK$,&:,&:6HFUHWDULDW to Mediha Gezgin, 15 October 1953, 1800, AICW.

40 Bromham to Eder, 11 August 1953 and 11 October 1953, 1800, AICW.

41 ûDGDQ)DKLU´0VOPDQ.DG×Q%LUOLùLYH0HGLKD*H]JLQµ 'HIQH 85 (1989): 24–27.

42 ICW Secretariat to Gezgin, 15 October 1953, 1800, AICW. 43 Note on a letter from ICW Secretary to Gezgin, 9 January 1954, 1800, AICW. 44 Bromham to Eder, 27 July 1955, 1800, AICW.

45 (GL]´.DG×QgUJWOHQPHOHULµ$,&:FRQWDLQVWKUHHGLIIHUHQWYHU - sions of the bylaws of the KKD.

46 (GL]VWDWHVWKDWWKHDVVRFLDWLRQ·VÀUVWWKUHHDLPVZHUHDVIROORZVWRSURWHFW the rights of women enhanced by the Turkish revolution, to equate women’s rights with those of men in every sphere, and to establish contacts with women in the world in order to make Turkish women’s activities internationally known. Ibid.

47 An important dimension of this “protection” was “saving” women from prostitution, perceived as a major source of social and moral crisis. Like KKD, TKB as well had been involved in this “struggle.” Sancar, 7UN0RGHUQOHüPHVLQLQ&LQVL\HWL , 272–73, 287.

48 Bromham to Gmür, 30 November 1955, 1800, AICW.

49 Gezgin to Eder, 31 May 1954, 1800, AICW. 50 Gezgin to Nathalie Rees, 2 June 1957, 1800, AICW.

51 Bromham to ICW Secretariat, 11 August 1957, 1801, AICW.

52 Beyers, “The ICW and its National Councils,” 51. 53 Lefaucheux to Henry Spitzmüller, 21 April 1958, 1801, AICW.

54 $IÀOLDWLRQRIDQDWLRQDOFRXQFLORIZRPHQWRWKH,&:KDSSHQHGLQWKHFDVH of Egypt and Lebanon in 1951 and in the case of Pakistan in 1953. An Israeli council ZDVDIÀOLDWHGLQ,UDQDQG7XQLVLDIROORZHGWRJHWKHUZLWK7XUNH\LQ 55 Lady Nunburnholme to Lefaucheux, 11 April 1958, 1801, AICW. 56 Lefaucheux to Spitzmüller, 21 April 1958, 1801, AICW. 57 Lefaucheux to Mme Zorlu, 16 May 1958, 1801, AICW.

58 Adile Ayda (1913–1992) was the writer and lawyer Maksudi Arsal’s daugh- ter. As a woman, she was not able to be appointed as a diplomat, so she made an academic career in Ankara and Istanbul. “AYDA, Adile,” Republic of Turkey: 2016 Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele 63

Ministry of Culture and Tourism, accessed April 1, 2016, KWWSZZZNXOWXUJRY WU(1D\GDDGLOHKWPO . Barclay Parsons to Adile Ayda, 31 December 1958, 1801, AICW.

59 Lefaucheux to Ayda, 11 February 1959, 1801, AICW.

60 “Rapport de Magdeleine Leroy-Boy, Vice-Présidente du CIF, sur sa prise de contact avec les organisations féminines d’Istamboul,” 1801, AICW.

61 Ayda to Lefaucheux, 9 May 1959, 1801, AICW.

62 Gezgin to ICW Secretariat, 11 May 1959, 1801, AICW.

63 $GLOH$\GD´7UNL\H.DG×QODU.RQVH\L·QL1DV×O.XUGXP"µ .D'H)H (Federation of Women’s Associations) QR  ²TXRWHGLQ(GL]´.DG×Q Örgütlenmeleri,” 99–100.

64 Ibid.

65 Leroy-Boy to Gezgin, 5 June 1959, 1801, AICW. 66 Lefaucheux to Spitzmüller, 30 July 1959, 1801, AICW. 67 Spitzmüller to Lefaucheux, 19 August 1959, 1801, AICW.

68 Although we use “Turkish council” when referring to the Turkish branch of the ICW, it was only on 3 December 1967 that the .DG×QODU'D\DQ×üPD'HUQHùL FRXOGRIÀFLDOO\WDNHWKHQDPH .DG×QODU.RQVH\L'HUQHùL (The Association of Turkish &RXQFLORI:RPHQ (GL]´.DG×QgUJWOHQPHOHULµ²

69 ´0LOOHWOHUDUDV×.DG×QODU.RQVH\L%DüNDQYHNLOL0UV%RUFOD\V3DUVDQV·×Q Demeci,” .DG×Q*D]HWHVL , September 5, 1959, 1.

70 ´$GLOH$\GD*HQHO%DüNDQVHoLOGLµ .DG×Q*D]HWHVL , September 5, 1959, 1.

71 úIIHW+DOLP2UX]´

72 ´+U0LOOHWOHUHPHQVXSHOOLGHYOHWNDG×QODU×DUDV×QGD7UNNDG×QO×ù×GD JLUPLüEXOXQX\RUµ .DG×Q*D]HWHVL , February 20, 1960, 1.

73 úIIHW+DOLP2UX]´7UN.RQVH\Lµ .DG×Q*D]HWHVL , February 20, 1960, 1. 74 Barclay Parsons to Ayda, 14 December 1959, 1801, AICW.

75 Ayda to Bougenot, 7 April 1960, 1801, AICW.

76 (GL]´.DG×QgUJWOHQPHOHULµ 77 Ibid., 88. See also Sancar, 7UN0RGHUQOHüPHVLQLQ&LQVL\HWL , 295 for Oruz’s ironical critique of this attempt in the newspaper Hürriyet (January 13, 1958). A women’s party was founded in 1972, a year before the death of Gezgin: see Ediz, ´.DG×QgUJWOHQPHOHULµ 64 Journal of Women ’s History Fall

78 Kemal H. Karpat, “Actors and Issues in Turkish Politics, 1950–1960: Pro- totypes and Stereotypes,” International Journal of Turkish Studies QR   115–57.

79 6HPLQXU,QDQo´7XUNLVKµ International Council of Women: Quarterly Review— New Series 5 (1959): 6–7.

80 'HQL]$.DQGL\RWL´(PDQFLSDWHGEXW8QOLEHUDWHG"5HÁHFWLRQVRQWKH Turkish Case,” Feminist Studies 13, no. 2 (1987): 317–38. 81 Leroy-Boy to Gezgin, 5 June 1959, 1801, AICW.

82 Lefaucheux to Lady Reading, n.d., 1801, AICW.

83 Kemal H. Karpat, “The Military and Politics in Turkey, 1960–64: A Socio- Cultural Analysis of a Revolution,” The American Historical Review 75, no. 6 (1970): 1654–83; Feroz Ahmad, “Military and Politics in Turkey,” in Kerslake et al., Turkey’s Engagement with Modernity , 92–116; and Karpat, “Actors and Issues in Turkish Politics.”

84 ´$QDODU7UNDVNHULQLQYDUO×ù×Q×GROGXUDQNXGUHWWLU(OEHWRùXOODU×Q× destekleyeceklerdir,” .DG×Q*D]HWHVL -XQHDQG´.DG×QODU'D\DQ×üPD%LUOLùL üyeleri Askeri Valiyi ziyaret etti,” .DG×Q*D]HWHVL , June 4, 1960, 1. 85 Lefaucheux to Spitzmüller, 10 June and 24 June 1960, 1801, AICW. On Spitzmüller’s attitude towards the military coup, see Cüneyt Akalin, “Sur la note de l’ambassadeur H. Spitzmüller à propos du ‘27 mai 1960’ en Turquie,”

87 Lefaucheux to G. Beis (French embassy), 5 June 1960, 1801, AICW; and Beis to Lefaucheux, 24 June 1960, 1801, AICW.

88 Sancar, 7UN0RGHUQOHüPHVLQLQ&LQVL\HWL , 209, 232. Sancar also refers to the research by Füsun Üstel on civics education in the textbooks, which beginning IURPWKHVUHÁHFWDFRQVHUYDWLYHDSSURDFKFRQVWUXFWLQJWKHLPDJHRIWKHLGHDO female citizen as a mother and a happy housewife with no occupation (quoted in Füsun Üstel, 0DNEXO9DWDQGDü·×Q3HüLQGH,,0HüUXWL\HWWHQ%XJQH9DWDQGDüO×N(ùLWLPL >úVWDQEXOúVWDQEXOúOHWLüLP

89 ´%H\QHOPLQHO.DG×QODU.RQVH\LúVWDQEXOGDWRSODQ×\RUµ .DG×Q *D]HWHVL , August 20, 1960, 1.

90 ú+2UX]´.DG×QODU.RQJUHVLµ .DG×Q*D]HWHVL , August 20, 1960, 2. 91 .DG×Q*D]HWHVL , March 9, 1960; and Hergün , August 29, 1960.

92 +DVHQH,OJD]´'HOHJHOHULQ$UNDV×QGDQµ .DG×Q *D]HWHVL , September 10, 1960, 2. 2016 Umut Azak and Henk de Smaele 65

93 $NüDP , August 23, 1960, 1; $NüDP , August 25, 1960, 1, 5; $NüDP , August 26, ´.DG×QODU.RQVH\LdDO×üPDODU×QD%DüODG×µ Cumhuriyet , August 24, 1960, 1; DQG´'D\DQ×üPD.RQVH\LoDO×üPDODUDEDüO×\RUµ Hürriyet , August 25, 1960, 1.

94 ´'Q\D.DG×QODU.RQVH\L7RSODQG×µ

95 ´'Q\D.DG×Q.RQJUHVLDo×OG×µ

96 'Q\D.DG×QODU%LUOLùLNRQJUHVLEXJQDo×O×\RUµ

97 2UKDQ7DKVLQ´0LOOHWLQ.DG×Q×úVWDQEXO·GDµ Hayat , September 9, 1960, 12–13.

98 /H\OD(UGXUDQ´úüLQDVO×µ Milliyet , August 28, 1960, 2. Oruz herself too criti- FL]HGWKHSUHVV·VIDLOXUHDQG´ODFNRISHUVSHFWLYHµLQUHÁHFWLQJWKHRSLQLRQVHPHUJHG LQWKHFRQJUHVVWRWKHSXEOLFú+2UX]µ0LOOHWOHUDUDV×.DG×QODU.RQJUHVLµ .DG×Q *D]HWHVL , September 10, 1960, 1.

99 /H\OD(UGXUDQ´úüLQDVO×µ Milliyet , August 28, 1960, 2. 100´7UN.DG×Q×Q×Q%DüDU×V×'Q\D\DELUgUQHNWLUµ Vatan , August 26, 1960, 7KLVUHSRUWTXRWHG/HIDXFKHX[·VVSHHFKLQWKHLQDXJXUDOPHHWLQJ´.DG×QODU .RQJUHVL'HOHJHOHULGH7UNúQN×ODE×Q×|Y\RUµ

1015LNNDW.|NQDU´%L]L1DV×O%XOGXODU"8OXVODUDUDV×.DG×Q.RQJUHVLQGHQ Notlar,” Cumhuriyet , August 29, 1960, 3.

102ú+2UX]´0LOOHWOHUDUDV×.DG×QODU.RQJUHVLµ .DG×Q*D]HWHVL , September 10, 1960, 1.

103+DVHQH,OJD]´0LOOHWOHUDUDV×.DG×QODU.RQJUHVLµ .DG×Q*D]HWHVL , August 27, 1960, 2.

104Vecihi Ünal, “Eksik Eteklere Müjde,” $NüDP , September 6, 1960, 2.

105´0D\×V'HYULPL\OHNDG×QO×ù×P×]HQPLWOLGHYUH\HJLUPLüEXOXQX\RUµ .DG×Q*D]HWHVL $XJXVWDQG´¶dDUüDÁD0FDGHOH+DIWDV×·'Q%DüODG×µ Hürriyet , August 25, 1960, 1.

106Milliyet , August 28, 1960, 1, 5.